Hi all
Just want to say my two bobs worth on service intervals & oil for Bimis I work on these cars and see there common faults...No oil (even the latest synthetics) lasts & protects for 25000 km, more so with a turbo or supercharged engine. Service your car every 10000 km and your engine components ie. timing chains, rings, valve guides ect will last sooo much longer. I see R56's with 60000 ks chewing through oil due to worn valve guides & sludged up rings. This over extended service period also costs the user more with the high cost of these major type of repairs. Also things like tyre rotation...By the time you have done 25000 your tyres are not worth rotating by then because they are worn out, where if you rotate them every 10000 you can double the life of them (depending how you drive). Service every 10000 makes a happy mini. Oil is cheap compared to major repairs!

http://www.realautomotive.com.au

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A proper mini redlines at 13 500 rpm

I have to agree whole heartedly .

My daughter has an 04 Cooper S , and i am doing the services on it , ( too exxy for her to get it done at a dealer ) my first thought was , 25,000k's for an oil change , ( SAY WHAT ) , so i thought every 15,000k's was better , considering it would be running synthetic oil , so far the oil still appears clean ,
and it is nearly due for another oil change .

I tend to agree as our R56 which we had from new did seem to start having issues at around 60k. I did start to do my own oil changes after warranty period but I think it was too late by then.
I did ask the dealer if I could have more oil changes but the wouldn't do it as he said the service computer would be confused?
We now have a Countryman which is about to reach 10k and still has 7k till service, so i am thinking of doing my own oil change in the next few weeks.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

As realmini states the cost of oil and oil filters are cheap (especially if you buy oil filters in bulk, say four at a time on eBay). You can do the intermediate oil changes yourself (every 10000 kms with a good quality fully synthetic oil and a K&N filter for less than $100) the dealer need never know hence you won't void your warranty!

I ended up using Castrol 5w30 synthetic from Repco which was same as dealer was using.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

I have a 02 Cooper and I have been doing the servicing on it since I have had it and I do it every 5000kms engine oil and filter and I change the gearbox oil every 30000km

I use penrite HPR10 which is a 10w 40 full synthic
I have had no issues at all with the engine

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Don't under estimate the power of a Mini

1975 Supercharged Blue Mokezilla
1976 Fudge Moke
1967 BRG & White 67 Morris Deluxe
1974 Clubman Mini S
2005 Red Mini Cooper S
2009 Mitsubishi Outlander VRX

Sorry to bump an old thread,
Has anyone done a gearbox oil change on an r53 cooper s?
If so what grade / brand oil have you used.

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

Genuine oil is the only one that is specified......When BMW were out of stock we use Penrite Progear 70/75 full synth

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A proper mini redlines at 13 500 rpm

BMW can only order in 20ltr drums of gearbox oil at $550 a drum.
Progear 70-75 it is!

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

Just on the same note , what are the service intervals for the gearbox oil ?, just got me thinking about my daughters car .

According to mini / all the oil companies its filled for life..
mine has only done 57,000km but i rather play it on the safe side.
It takes about 1.5ltrs

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

You change it when you need to take the gearbox out to do the clutch.

And then when you're doing that, you do the inner cv boot, and the lower control arm bushes. Then while you're there replace the power-steering hoses because they are all hard and leaking. Don't forget to take the time to replace the front strut swivel plates if they are breaking as well.

Honestly i've only worked on a couple and they have been around the 10 year old mark (one with only 60K klms), and they are fairly well stuffed. They have not been made to last very long before they require some serious money.

I agree.
Sadly this appears to be the case for most European cars now days?
100,000 km and 5 to 6 years is about the limit

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

I suppose the idea is to sting the non mechanically minded user with a nice big bill.

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Nick

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=86675